We see it everyday. In music, television, and the media there are an increasingly high number of women with breasts and buftt enhancements. Once upon a time, plastic surgery and enhancements were seen as a “whites only” thing and women of color would sneer at the very thought of doing it. The African-American community use to pride themselves on their natural-born curves but now it appears that natural looks are simply not enough. Plastic surgery and enhancements are at an all time high. Women are getting so much added to their body’s, that it does not look realistic anymore. There are two questions that need to be asked: “How much is enough?” and “Why so much?”
In today’s entertainment industry, specifically the hip-hop community, the most powerful men are with well-endowed women that do not seem to do anything but look good. Most women envy this lifestyle and want to be with these wealthy men but do not have the right “body parts” to do so. With an already desirable body, women still feel the need to get work done to attract these men in hopes of having a better and more comfortable life. The phrase “bigger is better” is taken literally in this context because the bigger butt and breasts women have, the more men praise them for it. Songs are even written to praise how big a woman’s butt is — we hear it everyday on the radio and wherever we go. African-American women already have the media and advertising preaching to them about how their skin is not light enough or their hair is not long enough or how their butt is not big enough. Most African-American men in general do not seem interested in African-American women and instead have taken a liking to other races, such as Latina women. The average Latina woman has silky hair and light skin (like a Caucasian woman) and has a curvaceous body (like black women) so these men feel like they are getting the best of both worlds. Black women have to try to find a way to compete with that by buying hair weaves, using lightening creams, and adding butt injections to their already rounded bottoms.
The average everyday woman is not the only person that enhances her body parts. As we see on television, many celebrities get surgery to be able to compete with others in order to sustain their spot as a top seller. Throughout history, society has always told us what we should look like and what we should conform to and this is no different. When we see our favorite celebrities getting surgery and looking great, we, as average people, believe that it is okay and acceptable to follow these trends. We believe it so much that we literally kill ourselves to be beautiful. There have been at least two deaths so far with women getting butt injections at home from someone who was not a professional and countless other injuries from similar unlicensed procedures. Yet, women are willing to take that risk all in the name of beauty. After all, beauty is pain, right?
If women can learn to one day be truly happy with their own appearance and comfortable in their own skin, then they will not need to seek validation from any man or even society. Maybe then this surgery epidemic will slowly come to an end. In the mean time, butt injections and other enhancements are here to stay.
